Tuesday, February 28, 2017

"Shine Like The Dawn" by Carrie Turansky Book Tour and Give Away

About the Book

Book: Shine Like the Dawn

Author: Carrie Turansky

Genre: Historical

In a quiet corner of northern Edwardian England, Margaret Lounsbury diligently works in her grandmother’s millinery shop, making hats and caring for her young sister. Several years earlier, a terrible tragedy reshaped their family, shattering an idyllic life and their future prospects. But Maggie is resilient and will do what she must to protect her sister Violet. Still, the loss of her parents weighs heavily on her heart and she begins to wonder if what happened that day on the lake…might not have been an accident.

When wealthy inventor and industrialist William Harcourt dies, his son Nathaniel, who is Maggie’s estranged childhood friend, returns from his time in the Royal Navy and inherits his father’s vast estate, Morningside Manor. He also assumes partial control of his father’s engineering company and the duty of repaying an old debt to the Lounsbury family. But years of separation between Nate and Maggie have taken a toll and Maggie struggles to trust her old friend.

Can Maggie let go of the resentment that keeps her from forgiving Nate—and reconciling with God? Will their search for the truth about her parents’ death draw them closer or will it leave them both with broken hearts?

My Review: "Shine Like The Dawn" by Carrie Turansky is a book that kept me reading from the first paragraph to the end. Wish I could say it was all happy scenes but I can't. Maybe that fact is why the book was a really good book. It is a story that could happen, I know "Shine Like The Dawn" is fiction but this reader likes to imagine ( sometimes) that the stories she reads are somewhat true. I think "Shine Like The Dawn" is a mystery and a love story but it is classified Historical, which I guess it is because it talks about people not trusting motor cars. The main story is about the friendship of Maggie and Nate who are old friends but when tragic strikes Nate isn't around to comfort Maggie so she thinks God and Nate have abandoned her. There are twists in this story that the reader really doesn't see coming until you read about them.There are actually several love interests in "Shine Like The Dawn".

"Shine Like The Dawn" teaches life lessons such as love your family when you have them and forgiveness is a must for one that something was done too. Holding on to the forgiveness hurts the person who is holding on to it and not the one who needs to be forgiven. Another lesson is that secrets always comes to the light and is found out. The little story about the pending strike was also interesting reading!

I know this is a short review but all I have left to say is read this book and your heart will be rejoicing that love wins again.I am giving "Shine Like The Dawn" by Carrie Turansky five stars.I was given a complimentary copy of "Shine Like The Dawn" by the author and Celebrate Lit and these opinions are my own. About the Author

CARRIE TURANSKY is an award-winning author of more than a dozen novels and novellas. She has been the winner of the ACFW Carol Award, the Crystal Globe Award, and the International Digital Award, and a finalist for the Inspirational Readers Choice Award and the Maggie Award of Excellence. A prolific writer of contemporary and historical romance, women’s fiction, short stories, articles, and devotionals, Carrie lives in central New Jersey with her husband Scott. They have five adult children and four grandchildren.

Guest Post from Carrie Turansky

Hats, Glorious Hats!

By Carrie Turansky

One fun part of my research for Shine Like the Dawn was learning about hat making in the early 1900s. My heroine, Maggie Lounsbury is a milliner who designs women’s hats. She learned this skill from her grandmother who owns a small shop in the village of Heatherton. Maggie has an artistic eye and she enjoys making stylish hats, but she doesn’t like the overdone designs some of their customers request, so that creates some humorous conflict in the story.

Hats in the Edwardian era were large and often covered with feathers, flowers, lace, netting, berries and bows. The “bird nests,” as Coco Chanel called them, were held on with large hat pins stuck through piles of hair on the crown. These hats were called Gainsborough or Picture hats because of the way they framed a lady’s face. They often featured huge dried flower arrangements and sometimes included real leaves and twigs! No doubt the Garden hat was a fitting name.
1907 The Merry Window hat became very popular after the leading lady in the play by that same name wore a hat that was even taller and wider than usual. Some people complained these hats were too big and obtrusive in public places like the theater or picture shows. But English women loved them and wore them to all kinds of events.

The popularity of using large feathers and stuffed birds on hats caused concern for the welfare of birds. Many protective laws took effect and milliners had to use more ribbon and tulle and only large ostrich feathers to decorate hats. Those ostrich feathers came from birds that were raised on farms and their feathers were collected as they fell out naturally.
The movement toward smaller hats began around 1913 when hats still had high crowns but smaller brims. Straw boaters, small top hats, and mini versions of picture hats were very common.

Motion pictures had the greatest influence on Edwardian hat fashion. After the release of The Three Musketeers many ladies wanted to wear tricorne and bicorne shaped hats. They were still very large but now had shapes other than just round. Hat brims were folded up on the side, at an angle, or all around to create drama. Veils disappeared in the early 1900s only to come back again as a long scarf that wrapped over the hat and under the chin for the new sport called motoring.

I’ve had fun dressing Edwardian style for book launch tea parties and other book events. It made me feel very special to wear these lovely hats. What do you think of Edwardian Hats? Would you like to wear one?

Thanks to friends at the Vintage Dancer website for some of this information.

Stop by Carrie’s Facebook author page and view her live videos February 21 – 25, 3:00 pm Eastern. She’ll be talking about the story behind Shine Like the Dawn and giving away a fun prize each day to one person who leaves a comment. Even if you can’t catch the live video you can still enter for 24 hours after it’s posted. She is also hosting a book launch celebration and giveaway on her blog February 25 – March 6.

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Carrie is giving away all 4 books: Shine Like the Dawn, The Governess of Highland Hall, The Daughter of Highland Hall, and A Refuge at Highland Hall.! Click below to enter. Be sure to comment on this post before you enter to claim 9 extra entries! https://promosimple.com/ps/b0fb

Wonderful review! I enjoyed reading about the hats during this time period. I love Carrie’s Edwardian Bride series and am so looking forward to reading Shine Like the Dawn! I absolutely LOVE the cover! Thanks for the opportunity of this giveaway!!!

Thanks for those kind words about my books. I love the cover too, and I'm so grateful for the design team at WaterBrook. They let me give input on the dress and hat, so that was fun. I hope you enjoy reading Maggie and Nate's story in Shine Like the Dawn!

Hi Debbie, thank you for featuring Shine Like the Dawn on your blog today. I appreciate your kind review and help in spreading the word about this new book! I'm so glad you enjoyed the story! Blessings to you!

I'm interested to read about how Maggie and Violet survived in the years after their parents died. I know that Maggie works in the millinery shop, but it's still fascinating to me. My great-great-grandmother lost both of her parents by her 10th birthday, and she had an older sister as well, but they still ended up in an orphanage. I'm interested in seeing how Maggie was able to hold the family together at home. 😊